There is no other wisdom and no other hope for us but that we grow wise.

Tag Archives: Adult coloring

The early twenty-first century included some of the most turbulent decades of Earth’s history. Terrorist plots and atrocities raised anxiety levels to an all-time high. Confusion reigned in the 2016 electoral face for the US Presidency as Republican candidate Donald Trump’s popularity soared. Immense global issues, such as global warming, fracking, and impending superbug epidemics, were deprived government funding for scientific investigation and neatly swept under the rug. If ever the nations of Earth needed strong leaders, it was then. No one, however, was emotionally prepared to deal with these crises.

Still, there is evidence that the early decades of the twenty-first century was a time when humans began to take a strong interest in controlling their emotions. Enrollment in yoga classes and religious retreats increased, but one particular movement took the world by storm. In 2015, Amazon.com reported that for the first time in the company’s history, a coloring book made the best-seller list. Everywhere adults picked up colored pencils and gel markers to return to an activity they once enjoyed in the care-free days of childhood. Humans discovered, as Vulcans did during the violent times when Surak lived, that creating art – even, and perhaps especially, at an elementary level – offered a release of tension and a way to spend time in mindful contemplation; a way to focus on the here and now away from the violence and despair. Earth’s coloring trend also provided a social outlet, bridging generation gaps and enticing youngsters away from electronic media and games to enjoy meaningful social contact with their cohorts and elders.

The situation on Vulcan was no different in Surak’s time. Despite the violence, the elemental arts, such as pottery, drawing, and calligraphy flourished. As on Earth, coloring books or tablets were created to help children unwind and learn basic concepts, such as the alphabet, as a precursor to reading.

Recently there has been a gathering interest in this particular Vulcan art form. Over the next two years, the College of Historical Studies at the Vulcan Science Academy’s Shi’Kahr campus will have the coloring tablet Kur’voh ish-veh hayalik (Color Me Calm) on display. The work was created by artist S’harien and was designed to teach Vulcan children the glyphs of the Seleyan script, in the manner of “A is for apple,” “B is for ball,” etc. The drawings feature highly stylized images of common but important objects – most from the natural world – from Vulcan life. The exhibition will also be available for viewing here and will feature a new page each month. The pages have been arranged in a pattern that will be familiar to speakers of Federation Standard English, with the alphabet starting with the glyph corresponding to A and ending with Z, instead of the traditional Vulcan sequence. Viewers will note that there is no glyph for J, Q, and X.

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